


Oh my heart

by DarlingImaWriter



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, F/F, Gay, LETS GO LESBIANS, Love, Romance, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, age gap, fluff at the end, lin being emotionally constipated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26833585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingImaWriter/pseuds/DarlingImaWriter
Summary: Lin never expected to have a soulmate, in a world where your mark appears whenever your soulmate is born she grew up completely blank. So when she’s thirty and it finally etches itself around her arm, she vows to never be with the one meant only for her.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Reader
Comments: 16
Kudos: 149





	1. Chapter 1

Lin was terrified. Something she had longed for her entire life had finally appeared but at the worst possible time, those strange words etched onto her forearm stared back at her in a taunting manner, making fun of her new attempt at happiness. You wished for me all your life, aren’t you pleased? The voice in the back of her head taunted, but she wasn’t. A moment meant to be filled with joy was one drenched in dread. Lin had finally accepted her feelings for Tenzin, despite him having had his soulmate mark since he was sixteen. Her glances grew longer, her smile seemed reserved only for him, and she finally felt happy, until now of course. Thirty, that’s how old Lin was, which meant she was thirty years older than her soulmate which seemed wrong, disgusting even, so Lin did what she thought best, she burnt it off. She blamed it on a work-related incident when asked, a pesky firebending criminal got a little to close and she paid the price. No one knew she did it to herself in the darkness of her apartment with tears on her face, a hint of regret gnawing at her heart.

Two months later, Tenzin asked Lin out on a date and despite that nagging feeling that this was so wrong, she accepted. After a few months Tenzin made her forget about the burnt skin on her forearm, the shameful secret she’d take to the grave. She felt happy, so happy, she felt loved and accepted, like maybe she had a shot at a happily ever after despite his mark and her own. Lin knew he’d choose her, knew he loved her, and had nothing to worry about, so she laid her head on his chest as they basked in the sun on Air Temple Island.

-—–-

“You can’t force me into wanting kids!” Lin shouted, her hands waving around as she glared at Tenzin, his usual calm demeanor seemed to crack, his voice rising as he shouted back “I’m the last air bender there is! I have to keep the line going, I have to repopulate my kind!”

“I would be a terrible mother, I hate kids and I’d have to leave my job for at least nine months, I just made Chief!” Tenzin pinched the bridge of his nose, his pale complexion turning red with frustration, he loved how dedicated she was to her job, but it seemed to be all she cared about since getting promoted.

“I think we need a break from each other, maybe a week or t-”. Her eyes widened in horror at his words, her hand’s grip at her hair in frustration as she cuts him off “fine, but I am coming back in a week and we are working this out for good, I’m tired of this argument.” Without letting him say another word, she stormed out and made her way back to republic city.

As the week dragged on, Lin put her colleagues through hell. Slamming doors so hard the glass on them shattered, an even shorter fuse than normal, she even fired two of her best detectives for trying to ask her what was wrong. Her apartment seemed cold, her nights seemed never-ending and an undeniable sense of dread clawed its way into her heart like she knew he was slipping away. Maybe she could have one kid, to make him happy and keep the air benders going. If it was an earth bender then fine, she’d have another, but she wouldn’t quit her job, wouldn’t loosen up on the hours and Tenzin would understand, right? He’d just be so happy to be a father that he wouldn’t care, he’d always respected her work before, what was to stop him after a kid or two?

She caved, she decided to go back to air temple island on the fifth day, a sense of determination to fix their relationship fueled each step and she tried to dismiss any fear she had of becoming a mother as she made her way up the steps to where she’d known Tenzin would be. In her state, she didn’t notice the pitying looks the acolytes sent her way, all she cared about was finding him. When she found him in the courtyard, she thought nothing of the young woman speaking to Tenzin with a wide grin but when she put her hand on his shoulder mid-laugh, Lin paused. Tenzin noticed her then, a million emotions flashed through his eyes before his shoulders sagged and a sorrowful expression settled on his face, and somehow, she knew.

Who could blame her when she wreaked havoc on a place she once called her sanctuary, when she wished misery on him before leaving her destruction behind, her fists clenched tight as the best thing she ever had slipped through her fingers.

-—–-

“Korra!” a feminine voice shouted from behind Tenzin, you pushed past him and ran forward to hug the avatar in the interrogation room, murmuring something to her in a furious tone. Lin rolled her eyes as she looked over at Tenzin who said smoothly “Lin, you are looking radiant as usual.”

“Cut the garbage Tenzin” she replied in an annoyed tone “why is the avatar in republic city? I thought you were supposed to be moving down to the south pole to train her.” you, who came in with Tenzin let go of Korra and walked over to stand by him, your arms crossed over your chest.

“It was too cold for his bald head” you answered right as Tenzin opened his mouth to speak “now why is my sister in so much trou-”. Lin tuned the rest of her words out as shock slammed into her like a rock wall. No. This wasn’t meant to happen, she’d scorched off any chance with her soulmate twenty years ago, or so she thought. But this… this twenty? Yes, a twenty-year-old water tribe girl with brows furrowed, and an expectant look on her face was it. You were what sometimes kept her up at night when she was so lonely it felt like the feeling would surely eat her up as Lin imagined some faceless figure who loved Lin with all their heart, someone who would never leave her.

“Lin?” Tenzin asked, putting his hand on her shoulder which successfully pulled her out of the raging ocean that was her thoughts, no not ocean, definitely nothing water-related. Lin looked into Tenzin’s eyes, completely ignoring her one chance at happiness.

“Just get her out of my sight and keep her out of trouble” she practically growled out before storming off. Her heart was racing so fast she’d thought it’d surely give up any second now, maybe she should have known that her hasty decisions from her past would one day come back to sucker punch her in the gut.

“Well that was weird” Lin heard you say behind her as she continued to rush away from you before she accidentally said something. Lin vowed then that she would never say a single word to you. It was better this way anyway, who would want her? Bitter, old, scarred Lin who was practically married to her job and hated all things romantic ever since Tenzin crushed her heart beneath his shoe.

-—–-

She learned that your name was y/n a few days later, she heard Korra call out to you at the gala and when Lin followed Korra’s excited figure and her eyes landed on her soulmate, the wind was successfully knocked out of her for the second time since meeting y/n. You were wearing a deep blue satin dress that went down to the floor with a blue sheer shoulder shawl that had silver snowflakes embroidered onto it. Your hair was down instead of up, and you had a small amount of makeup on, just a bit of rouge and red lipstick. Lin thought it was the perfect amount, any more and it might distract someone from your beautiful eyes, or your enchanting smile. Her heart began to pound despite her desperate attempt at keeping her emotions in check. A large part of her hated this, hated you, and what this feeling blooming in her chest meant.

When Bolin came up to you and threw an arm over your shoulder, which caused you to laugh, Lin remembered that it would never happen. She shoved her feelings down and turned away from you as her thoughts went from how beautiful you were to how you would never love her.

Later on in the evening, Tarlock calls Lin over and she sees you peek around Korra to eye her curiously, a look of intrigue settles on your features as Lin pushes down any feelings she has at the fact that you’re looking at her and it feels like her whole body is on fire under your stare. “I believe you and avatar Korra have already met” Tarlock looks over at her with that sly look of his that she’s already determined means he’s up to no good.

“Just because the city is throwing you this big to do, don’t think you’re something special. You’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve this” she says to Korra, leaning down a bit to glare at the young avatar. Your curious gaze turns to one of annoyance as you glare at Lin. “Hey! Who gave you the right to be mean to my little sister,” you step in front of Korra almost protectively, as you stare her down. Don’t speak to her, look away, don’t reply, she tells herself. Lin turns on her feet and walks off, trying to seem as if she doesn’t care about what you said. “Why does she always ignore me?” she hears you say in an exasperated tone before she loses your voice over the loud music playing nearby.

-—–-

When Tenzin stands next to Lin at the pro-bending arena with you by his side, she’s not surprised. It seems the universe has decided to continuously throw you in her face, dangling you teasingly despite knowing her decision regarding your bond. You’re holding a bag of fire flakes as you eagerly watch your sisters match, but soon your once excited expression turns to annoyance once the game starts. The Wolf Bats tipped the referee off. Lin wants to go beat the referee up until he starts being fair, just to see you smile once more.

“C’mon! This is bullshit” you shout as the Wolf Bats gain another point. Lin can’t help but notice the way your nose scrunches up as you continue to shout at the referee or how your hair which originally was pushed behind your ears has come loose and is framing your face so beautifully. Her left hand unconsciously grazes over her armor where her burn mark is as she watches you, completely tuning the game out. As Tenzin goes to shout something alongside you, his eyes catch Lin staring at you with a look of longing, he takes a step closer to Lin causing her to tear her eyes away from you and back to the match.

“Lin….” Tenzin begins but she clears her throat and mutters out a sharp “drop it.” To which Tenzin does, for now. Later on, as the match intensifies, Lin says “I can’t believe your sweet-tempered father was reincarnated into that girl, she’s tough as nails.” Lin doesn’t see it, but you smile at her words before deciding to tune out the rest of the conversation between the two, too focused on your sister to care.

You’re practically seething at the outcome of this botched game, fire flakes are flying out of the bag as you shout in anger, not noticing the figure approaching with sinister intentions. By the time you do, it’s because you’re in excruciating pain as something electrifies you, your vision blurs and you make out Lin dropping onto the floor. The figure who electrocuted you steps over your body, you reach out to the Airbender, trying to warn him but nothing comes out of your mouth as he falls to the floor beside you. Soon your eyes droop closed due to the pain despite trying your hardest to stay awake.

When Lin awakens her muscles feel like they’re about to give out and she lets out a weak groan as she slowly goes to stand up. Her eyes land on you the second her vision is no longer a blur and her heart fills with panic as she sees an equalist take you into their arms. She stumbles forward, not fully awake, and catches the attention of your capture. You let out a pained groan, in your unconscious state, the sound tugs at her heart and she’s suddenly filled with boiling rage. The equalist is shaking as he continues to stumble backward, another appears to help him take you away and without a second thought Lin shoots out her wires and wraps them around both of their ankles, she gives them a harsh yank which causes them to fall to the ground with a loud thud, for good measure she cuffs them to the floor, warping the metal of the floor beneath them around their wrists and ankles. You land on top of your capture, your eyes begin to flutter behind your lids and you finally stir awake. Pain wraps around your muscles, in your head you think maybe it’s best to just lay still, momentarily forgetting about your situation.

You let out a whimper, knocking Lin out of her frozen state as she had gazed at you. Lin rushes forward and wraps an arm around your waist as she pulls you up onto your feet, you open your eyes, blinking the blurriness out of your eyesight. Lin takes you over to the railing as Tenzin also begins to regain consciousness and she props you up against the metal railing. You stare up at her in confusion, your mind is buzzing a mile a minute, not only at the situation at hand but at how her arms felt wrapped around you. “Uhm… Thanks for that.”

“Amon probably ordered them to kidnap you to hurt Korra” she replies, not realizing what she’s just done. Your eyes widen in shock at her words but before she can even notice your shocked state an explosion sets off behind you, sheets of metal from the bending platform go flying and she wraps her arms around you, forcing you to duck down so she can shield you with her body. You pull up a wave of water to protect you from oncoming flames. The heat of the steam from the water causes you both to begin sweating before the flames from the explosion recede only seconds later. You let go of the water, suddenly the discovery of Lin’s secret doesn’t seem so important as you think of your sister. When you passed out she was in the water below, surely she’s somewhere safe, right?

As if to answer your question, Korra appears as she hurtles herself up into the air with a large twisting waterspout. As it begins to falter and then completely goes out you let out a shout filled with terror “Korra!” Lin quickly gets up and shoots her metal wire out towards the roof to send her flying across the arena towards the avatar, before Korra can hit the fiery platform below, she shoots out a second wire to her waist and with all her might yanks her up into the air.

You stand beside Tenzin with wide eyes and bated breath, suddenly the two most important women in your life, I mean Lin has been ignoring you and you’ll have to figure out why later but she is your soulmate which does make her incredibly important to you, are out of your sight and dangerously fighting above as you uselessly stand there with your water bending abilities that won’t get you up there to help fight off equalists. Not being able to just stand by you summon water from below and create an ice bridge to the platform, if you can’t fight, you can try to put out the raging fire caused by the explosion.

“Y/n, wait!” Tenzin calls after but you’re long gone. If you just stand there you’ll go insane and you have powers that can help, even if you don’t get to kick some equalist ass. Up above Lin finally lands on the glass dome and immediately sets out to take down as many people as she can at once, Korra watches in amazement for a moment as she wraps her wire at some guys foot and slams him into the roof before she gets knocked off the rope and lands onto the dome with a loud thud and the crackling of the glass starting to break below her.

It’s a collision of fire and electricity with metal wires flying towards the men and from below where you are using all your strength to put out the fire, it looks almost beautiful with the sparks of blue and flashes of red if not for the current circumstances. Tenzin has taken to help you with the fire by trying to use air to snuff it out. Suddenly glass from above sprinkles around them and you look up to see your little sister free falling once more.

“Tenzin can you do something with your air?!” You shout and he goes to try and send a force of air to help slow her down but she’s going too fast, she’s flailing and if she doesn’t do something soon she’ll most likely die from the impact. As you run to the edge of the platform to try and save her yourself, Lin appears from above Korra and shoots a small wire to her so she can hold onto it like a rope.

Your shoulders sag in relief as you stumble away from the edge and use everything you’ve got to summon a massive wave to once and for all put out the fire. It works and the force of the water has it crashing into the stands taking with it some of the seats and any trash left behind in the frenzy. When you see Lin and Korra land you race off towards the now soaking wet stands, using the water below as a set of frozen stairs to reach them. When you do, Lin has her hand on Korra’s shoulder and is saying something but you don’t make it out before you crush them both in a hug. Some sort of strangled sound of relief bubbles up through your throat as your hold on them tightens.

Korra wraps her arms around you, softly saying “thank the spirits you’re okay” as Lin stays perfectly still. As her adrenaline slowly leaves her body and she realizes you aren’t in danger, she suddenly can’t be touched by you. She remains frozen until you pull away, you know it’s not the time to bombard her so instead you offer Lin a thankful smile, too worried about how she’d react if you did anything else.

-—–-

A few days later you finally let Korra out of your sight, letting her run off to deal with her boy problems as you head towards the main police station. You tried to casually ask Tenzin what kind of tea Lin liked best, to which he’d furrowed his brows and said “why?” You simply shrugged and repeated your question. Apparently, it was jasmine, which was a favorite of yours as well so you stopped by your favorite tea shop and grabbed two to-go cups. As you enter the station you square your shoulders and give yourself a little pep talk “You can do this, you just need to march in and figure out why, maybe butter her up with the tea first of course, and then ask why, that’s if she lets you into the office…” you trail off once your eyes land on the door of Lin’s office, the words “Chief Beifong” are written in gold on the glass door which has a blind pulled down so you can’t see inside, which your slightly grateful for.

“Chief Beifong doesn’t want anyone to disturb her” one of the cops called out, but you ignore him and open the door, who cares, you deserve answers.

“I said I wanted to be alone, how brain dead are yo-” her words cut off as you walk in, balancing two cups in one hand so you can shut the door. You swallow, suddenly being in front of her has made most of your bravado slip away, along with your original plan, leaving you speechless. She doesn’t say anything, seeming to forget that she already spoke to you in the arena. You set the cups down and lift your shirt, which causes Lin to blush but you don’t stop until she can see her own words.

“I used to hate them… y’know,” you say quietly before dropping your shirt back down, Lin glares at her desk. “I used to be jealous of Korra and all the attention she got, so imagine growing up with her name etched onto your skin.”

She goes to open her mouth to speak, most likely to spew out some lie so you beat her to it. “I don’t know why, exactly, you kept it to yourself, I asked Tenzin the other day and he said you didn’t have a mark which is odd seeing as you are my soulmate.“ You pause, your voice softening, "you could have just told me straight away that you didn’t want me, didn’t want this instead of ignoring my existence and leaving me to wonder what I’d done to offend you.” Finally, she looks up from the desk and you make eye contact with her. You’re trying so hard not to cry as you try to figure out what’s going through her head, will she kick you out? Is your soulmate going to reject you?

“I thought…” Lin begins, she looks away from you, not being able to look you in the eyes anymore. “I thought I was doing you a favor, I’m old, and I’m not the most personable or charismatic person, I thought maybe you’d want someone your own age, maybe someone like your sisters’ teammates.”

“So someone who is young and a guy? Did you think that maybe you should let me decide what I wanted instead of just assuming?”

“Look I gave up on the idea of having a soulmate years ago!” Lin shouts and you flinch away in surprise, “thirty years is a long time, do you know how I felt when those words suddenly appeared on me at thirty?”

“Oh, so you do have a mark!” You let out a disbelieving, angry laugh. “So you just went around telling everyone you didn’t have one, pretending the idea of me, of us, didn’t exist.” Tears cloud your vision and you let out a frustrated groan as you quickly gaze up at the ceiling in an attempt to keep them from falling. Lin’s gaze softens and she slowly stands from her desk.

“Y/n… I thought about it every day, but… We can’t be together, I’m far too old and I’ll just hold you back.” You scoff and aggressively wipe at the tears falling down your cheeks, your heart feels like it’s beginning to crack.

“Your mark?” You croak out and cringe at how you sound. Lin hesitated before using her bending to take off the armor on her right arm. On her arm is a massive burn scar, you keep staring at it, not knowing what to say. Did someone else do that to her? As if she can read your thoughts, Lin says softly “I did it to myself a few days after it appeared.”

Oh. So this is what it’s like to have your heart cleaved into two, what you felt just minutes before seems like nothing compared to the pain wrapping so tightly around you that it seems hard to breathe. She hated the idea of you so much she’d rather hurt herself and lie to everyone in her life. Without another word you turn your back on your soulmate, despite the sound of calling out to you, just like she did to you twenty years ago.


	2. Chapter Two

Korra was becoming overbearing with her concern for you. Once you come back to air temple island she was there waiting to rant about a theory she had regarding Asami’s father. Usually, you’d reply and give good advice, unlike Pema’s, and would remind her not to get too worked up. But instead, as she opened her mouth to begin her rant, you broke out into tears. You wouldn’t tell her why, you were too embarrassed about the rejection of your soulmate to confess, even though it would help put Korra at ease to at least be in the know. She’d probably hunt Lin down and start some kind of fight with her regarding what happened. 

“Korra,” you say one night when you both are lying in your separate beds in your shared room. “Have you met your soulmate?” 

“I don’t know, I’ve kept it covered” she replies softly, she props herself up on her elbow, her eyes narrowing in the darkness, which you don’t notice. “Even with all these new people we’ve met?” your voice is soft, almost a bit hesitant of your inquiry. 

“I like Mako, but I’ve seen his mark and it’s not what I said to him, I don’t want to confuse myself by looking” she sits up fully, “Is that why you're so sad, did you meet yours?” 

“They didn’t want me..." You roll over so your back is facing your sister. Korra tries to pry it out of you, her voice laced with quiet rage but you simply squeeze your eyes shut and tune her out. 

The next morning, Korra doesn't leave your side, she tries multiple times to get the truth out of you, but you always tell her to drop it and walk away. Later on, she reluctantly leaves to do some avatar stuff and asks Pema to keep you company. Pema was nice and in moments like these when you wished your mom was around to comfort you she was the second-best thing. Both of you are sitting at a table, teacups in your hands as the laughter of the kids can be heard from out the window. 

"Korra told me what happened" Pema finally breaks the silence, it knocks you out of your thoughts and you harshly set the cup down onto the table, some of the contents of the cup sloshing out from the sides. "That was between us" you spit out. 

"Tenzin tells me a lot of things and he's a man so I don't think he's pieced any of it together but… " Pema purses her lips and sets her teacup down onto the table, gently. "It's Lin, isn't it?" Sadness trickles down your throat and wraps itself around your insides, suddenly the door you'd hastily locked to keep yourself from crying in front of anyone busted open, and with it a tidal wave of tears. Pema pushes herself up off the floor and sits down next to you, albeit it takes her a few minutes to get there in her pregnant state. She wraps her arms around you and pulls you in tightly. You let your head fall onto her shoulder as you weep, your shoulders shake as the feeling of loneliness rocks you to your core. 

“She doesn’t want me,” your voice is muffled but Pema hears you perfectly, she shushes you, running her hand soothingly through your hair. For what feels like hours all that can be heard is the sound of your strangled breaths and Pema’s humming. She slowly pulls away from you, panic rises in you and you try to stay within her arms but she places her hands on your shoulders to keep you from doing so. 

Her hands reach up to your face, wiping away the tears that continue to seep out of your eyes. “I think part of Lin’s hesitation has to do with me,” she begins, your brows furrowed in confusion but before you can ask any questions, she continues “A long time ago Lin and Tenzin were together, he hadn’t met me yet but I knew he was it, even without having spoken to him. So when I saw him pulling away from her, I finally made my move and admitted I was his soulmate, the woman who could make him happy.” 

Lin and Tenzin?... jealousy bubbles up in your throat which you try to push down, that was forever ago but maybe, she still loved him. Maybe that was part of the reason she rejected you. Pema pulled you out of your thoughts, brushing some of your hair out of your face in a motherly way. “I think because of that, she doesn’t think anyone else can love her.” 

“But I’m her soulmate” you respond, sure you didn’t love her yet but you knew you felt something, ever since your discovery at the arena you’ve dreamt of being wrapped up in her arms once more, to be so close to her you can see every detail in her gorgeous green eyes. These dreams that fill you with pain and longing when you wake up, feel so unattainable now due to her swift rejection. 

“Lin is a very confusing person, I think you need to try again and show her you won’t take no for an answer.” Pema’s words swirl around your mind as you try to think up a plan, her advice she gave to Korra a few weeks ago may have been bad but this seemed like it might work. If not then at least you wouldn’t stay awake at night wondering what if. 

\------

Before you can even formulate a plan on winning Lin over, Korra drags you off to help her with something important. She’s talking a mile a minute while Naga weaves past mobiles and dodges anyone who enters her path. The sun is high in the sky, marking that it's roughly midday and families are walking down the sidewalk together, couples are hand in hand, laughing about something the other has said. A part of you wonders what it might be like if Lin does decide to give the two of you a shot. She doesn’t seem like the kind of person to show affection in public, but what about behind closed doors? 

Due to how fast Korra is talking along with you getting lost with the idea of Lin, you don’t pick up a single word she’s been saying, so when the polar dog finally stops in front of a warehouse that is in the middle of getting raided, you're a little confused, to say the least. You both climb down and walk towards the entrance where Tenzin and Lin are talking, that childish feeling of jealousy hits you at the sight of them talking and you mentally scold yourself for it. Tenzin is happily married to his soulmate, you remind yourself. 

“Found anything?” Korra calls out, catching the attention of the two master benders. Lin’s eyes land on you and for a split second a look of sadness and pain crosses through her features but she quickly smothers it down with her usual scowl. It seems only you notice that momentary slip up as Tenzin begins telling you and Korra, even though honestly you aren’t listening, about whatever has gone on since she’s been gone. 

Apparently, Korra believed Asami’s father to be an equalist which seemed a bit far fetched, he did sponsor her pro-bending team, right? But you trust your little sister and so when they find his factory to be empty, you place a gentle hand on her shoulder to offer her some form of comfort. 

“It would appear Hiroshi is innocent” Lin finally speaks up with her arms crossed, since that first glance when you arrived, her eyes have been set on Korra. It stings to know she’s ignoring you but right now is about helping your sister and getting to the bottom of this. Asami waltzes up to the four of you with Mako by her side. “Okay, you did your search. Now you can all leave.” Korra ignores Asami and walks off to talk to Mako, leaving you alone. 

“I can’t believe your in on this” Asami says to you, for the most part, you’ve stayed out of Korra’s drama, only lending her advice in private and helping her out when it came to equalists or Tarlock. You let out a sigh and look away from her gaze “she’s my sister Asami and she wouldn’t do something like this without reason.” 

“Well he’s my father and he’s innocent, your sister is dragging him through the mud over a misinterpreted conversation” she fires back. Asami glares at you, taking a step closer to you to most likely try to get you all to back down. Before you can even think up a retort Lin, surprisingly, speaks up. “Ms. Sato, during these hard times we can’t leave any stone unturned, the warehouse is empty so you don’t need to worry about us anymore.” 

Asami walks off with Mako’s arm slung around her shoulder and Korra all but storms back over with a defeated look on her face, you side glance Lin, who isn’t even paying you any attention anymore. She was probably just trying to keep a fight from breaking out, you tell yourself, she doesn’t care about you. But then Pema’s advice rings through your head, louder than the self-deprecating thoughts and you try to remind yourself that maybe Lin does care about you, hopefully. 

After talking to the mystery man at midnight who ends up giving valuable information involving Hiroshi, a plan is set in place. You're all in a police force blimp, if not for the situation at hand you’d be marveling at the machinery with unbridled joy. You’ve never been on something like this before, sure the South Pole isn’t behind on the times but they don’t have any form of aircraft. “Raiding the Sato mansion is risky with Tarlock breathing down your neck. If we’re wrong-” 

“I know. I can kiss my job goodbye. But protecting republic city is all I care about. We can’t let Amon get his hands on this new weapon” Lin says, effectively cutting Tenzin off. You stand a few paces behind them, fiddling with your hands as you eavesdrop on them. You want to get to know her, and Lin’s words offer you a piece of information regarding her personality and life without even meaning to. She’s a good person, she might have hurt you but she’s good and that warms your aching heart just a bit. 

There are so many horror stories of people's soulmates being monsters, of being chained to someone who doesn’t treat them right that at least the universe decided to spare you on that front. You shake yourself of your thoughts, now is not the time to lose yourself over Lin, and soon enough you land in front of the Sato mansion, once inside Asami puts up quite a fight over her father's innocence which you don’t blame her for. If the roles were reversed you’d probably have already gotten physical with whoever tried to hurt your dad. 

The workshop behind the house is small and empty, the policemen try to find any sort of nefarious plans hidden in drawers or boxes but once again come up empty-handed, the confusing part though is how Hiroshi is also nowhere to be found. There isn’t a connecting room where he may be and there aren't any windows he may have left from. “Chief, the estate has been secured, no one has left since we’ve arrived,” an officer tells Lin.

“Perhaps we just couldn’t see him leaving” she replies as she walks over to the center of the room, you step to the side as Korra had sort of stepped in front of you protectively when you entered the workshop, to see what she’s doing. What she does next you’ve heard of but never seen, many talk about the way Toph Beifong revolutionized earth bending, not only by learning to bend metal but also with her aseismic senses. She bends the metal off her foot and slams it down onto the ground. Lin closes her eyes and for a few seconds remains completely still. 

“There’s a tunnel beneath the workshop running deep into the mountainside.” Your eyes widen at the discovery, maybe sometime in the future, if you and Lin do work it out you can gush about how much you admire her bending abilities, how truly powerful she is. Asami interrupts your daydream with her denial of such a thing, you do admire her loyalty to her father and his innocence and you honestly don’t want to see her reaction if he is an equalist. 

Lin effortlessly bends a piece of metal from the floor and slams it into the wall, showcasing a staircase that leads down, just like she said. You grab onto Korra’s hand knowing she probably wants to race down immediately to find out what lurks below. “Maybe you don’t know everything about your father,” Korra says in an apologetic tone, looking over at Asami, “I’m sorry.” 

Lin orders the officers to go down first and as you make your way to the stairs, Lin stops you. “Uh-uh, you four stay up here, officer so-” you scoff, going to push past her but she clamps a hand down onto your shoulder. “That includes you too.” 

“I am not letting my little sister go down there without me, I can handle myself” You shrug Lins handoff and push past her to make your way down the stairs, her voice stops you as you take your first step down. “I’m the chief of police and I am order-” you look over your shoulder at Lin who looks completely composed, it irks you that right now she’s trying to control you, acting like she has some sort of say over your actions. 

“Yeah and I don’t care, family trumps law enforcement” you reply, effectively ending the conversation. 

“Wait, does that mean we can go down to?” you hear Boin ask from up above, Lin barks out a no as she follows after you, most likely scowling no doubt. On the tram that speeds downward, Lin approaches you with her hands held behind her back, she’s still scowling from earlier, but her expression softens just a fraction when you look into her eyes. 

“Stay in the back and out of trouble” she orders, Korra and Tenzin are on the other side of the tram, out of earshot. You push off the railing and take a step closer until your chests are touching, maintaining eye contact with her. Lin’s breath catches, which pleases you and offers you a bit of hope. 

“If Korra needs me I’ll do what I must to protect her, even if that means being in the frontlines,” you say defiantly. Lin sighs, her scowl diminishing. “You shouldn’t care anyway, remember? This, us, isn’t a thing… unless you’ve changed your min-” 

“I haven’t, I want you out of the way because you’ll be a nuisance to the mission if you end up hurt or in need of help,” she says, taking a small step away from you before stalking off. Your shoulders sag, oh. Pema’s encouraging words seem so quiet right now, you could really use another pep talk from her right about now. For a second it seemed like maybe she’d caved, maybe she’d finally admit at this moment on the tram that she had feelings for you and wanted to give it a shot after this raid. Your hands clench as you try to squash down any oncoming tears and sigh. 

The tram lurches to a stop and you stumble forward a bit before catching yourself. You can’t let Lin be right, can’t give her the satisfaction so you square your shoulders and march out after them. An audible gasp leaves you at the sight ahead. Korra was right, all day it seemed like a wild goose chase but in front of you is a large warehouse that has banners hanging from the ceilings with Amons face on them, fear crawls through you at the memory of being electrocuted at the arena, of the explosion and Korra almost dying too many times to count.

The center of the warehouse is empty, but what lines the walls are towering, mechanical… statues? You squint in confusion at the contraptions “and I’m guessing those are the new weapons” Korra states. You take a step forward from the group but Lin grabs your forearm and pulls you away from the statues and has you stand behind her. A part of you wants to yell at her, claim you aren’t a nuisance or useless, but now doesn’t seem like the time. 

“Hiroshi was lying alright, but where is he?” Tenzin asks, and as if answering his question a large metal wall shoots up from beside you, Lin pulls you away from it and if not for her you probably would have gotten killed as it slams into the roof, locking you guys inside. You look up at her and she immediately drops your arm, tearing her gaze away from you and composing herself once more. Lin steps forward and tries to metal bend the wall back down, but nothing happens, not even a slight tremor, green lights flash on within the statues as they come to life, Hiroshi’s voice suddenly surrounds them, he must be talking into a microphone. 

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to metal bend that wall, Chief Beifong. It’s solid platinum.” The statues make a loud whirring sound as they start to move away from their respective spots and glide towards the group, effectively cornering them. “My mecha tanks are platinum as well. Not even your renowned mother could bend a metal so pure.” 

“Hiroshi, I knew you were a lying no good equalist. Come out here and-” 

“And do what, young avatar? Face the wrath of your bending? No. I think I’ll fight from inside here, where my odds are a little more… equal” he cuts Korra off. Your eyes widen, not hearing what Lin says as he shoots a metal hook out of his tank's hand, you all jump away from it but the other tanks keep moving in on you. 

You look around for any kind of water source, for a moment it seems like a fruitless attempt until you feel it, you whirl around and notice the metal pipe against the wall. You run-up to an officer and shout “I need you to break that pipe for me!” He stares in confusion for a minute before following your pointed finger and realizing your intentions. He rips the pipes open and water comes flooding in, you hope there's some kind of drain around here or you might have just doomed you all. 

There’s no time to worry though and you bend sharp daggers made out of water and aim them at the tank closest to you, it whirls its face around to stare at its attacker and starts to advance on you, but you bend water around its feet and legs, then freeze it. While it’s immobile you send more frozen daggers at it, this time aiming for its chest and two finally penetrate the metal, causing sparks to fly out of its chest as it whirs, you bend water into the two holes, completely breaking it. Without a second to lose you move onto another that the officers are holding down with their wires and do the same to its chest. A loud crash is heard behind you and you whirl around to see that the tank Lin was on fell against a metal beam and onto the floor. 

Your heart squeezes in fear until you see her standing on top of it, completely fine and a breath you didn’t realize you were holding in finally escapes with a strangled noise that probably would have embarrassed you in different circumstances. In your moment of distraction, the officers you helped had moved onto another tank, and you watch in horror as it electrocutes them by using their metal wires. The officers shout in pain as they spasm out of control before dropping to the ground.

That same tank advances on you quickly, you stumble back, slipping on the ice you had created for the first tank and fall onto it with a groan, your head slams down onto the ice and pain begins to spawn from that same spot but you can’t stop now, you can’t be a nuisance. Out of the corner of your eye, you see another one shoot its wire out at Lin and slam her against the wall. “Lin!” you shout, your eyes widening as she doesn’t move. Next Hiroshi’s tanks knock out Korra and soon after Tenzin, you're the only one awake and the tank chasing after you finally stop but doesn’t make a move to hurt you. 

Hiroshi’s tank swirls around from its stance in front of Tenzin and charges at you, you bend water around the floor in front of you to create ice in hopes of stopping his advances, your starting to feel weak from the wound at the back of your head. 

“I have plans for you,” Hiroshi says through his tanks microphone, it comes out a bit staticy due to the attacks but otherwise it moves like it’s still in perfect condition. You try to bend daggers at him but you can’t throw them far enough to hit him, they all fall at his tanks feet and a mocking laugh echoes through the warehouse. Something warm trickles down your neck, you hesitantly raise a hand to the back of your head and when you pull away your met with blood, it drips off your hand and onto the ice. You can’t beat them all, not alone and not in your state. 

The ice begins to melt due to the heat of the room and Hiroshi shoots out a wire of his own, your heart gives out as you know what's about to happen, you close your eyes as you wait for the inevitable and are shortly encased in shocking pain, it's worse than last time, so much worse and you think you might have screamed, you're not entirely sure due to being disoriented from the millions of sharp pinpricks you feel in your bones. All to fast you once again succumb to the pain and your eyes give out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is one more part after this one which will most likely be posted tomorrow! If you like it please leave a comment or a kudos, they honestly make my day.


	3. Chapter 3

When Lin wakes up, all she feels is the mind splitting pain from her blow, flashes of what happen play in her mind, the last thing she remembers is hearing you scream her name. You, Lin, forces her eyes open which is a task an of itself, and tries to sit up, her muscles spasm and give out, causing her to fall back down onto where she is laying, wherever she is its moving; Tenzin comes into her eyesight, he leans over her as he checks her pupils and her pulse. “Thank spirits you're all right, I was worried for a minu-”

“You just left my sister?!” Lin hears Korra scream from somewhere nearby. No, no she can’t have heard her correctly, Lin tries to sit up once more but Tenzin tries to push her back down.

“Get off of me” she growls out, sitting up so she can finally see the group in front of her. It’s Korra with her fists clenched and her face all pinched and red, she looks like she may very well kill everyone on board, yes, Lin realizes now that they are on the police force blimp. “We couldn’t find her and tanks were shooting at us, we didn’t ha-”

“Where’s y/n?” Lin asks, all heads turn to Lin and Korra points at Bolin and Mako, spitting out “ask them, they just left her behind! Amon probably has her now!” Korra storms off, hitting the wall with her firebending on the way out.

Mako rubs the back of his neck, he does look sorry and Bolin looks like he’s on the verge of tears. Asami is the one who speaks up “When we got down there they were loading your officers into some trucks, they must have already put y/n on there because she wasn’t with you three.” Lin’s heart stops, your gone and the last words she may have ever said to you was “don’t be a nuisance,” fuck. Lin’s head falls into her hands as she tries to keep her breathing even, she pushed you away like everyone else, and like everyone else you left even if it was against your will. All those silly daydreams that she had scolded herself for having, all those desires, she never even got to say how your laugh makes every little worry on her mind vanish.

Tenzin places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a comforting squeeze “we’ll find your officers Lin.” Oh right, fuck, not only did she let y/n down but also her officers. How is she going to tell all their families? How will she face the citizens of republic city after failing to protect them like she swore she would? Tenzin tries to push Lin back into laying down and this time she relents, her mind is swirling with the possibilities of what's happening to you right now but none of them are good, even if you do come out alive your bending will be taken away.

“From the looks of it she put up a fight, there was water everywhere…” Asami murmurs out somewhere behind her, Lin squeezes her eyes shut, maybe if she tries hard enough you’ll magically appear, maybe if she promises the spirits she’ll be nicer to everyone, especially you, they’ll give you back to her.

Back, Lin never had you in the first place, she shut you out and squashed any chance there may have been, at the time it seemed smart but now she lays here wishing she had kissed you at least once. On the tram she almost did, when you stepped closer to her Lin's thoughts were engulfed in you, her senses were filled with you, the scent of your perfume, your voice, and even your touch. She’d wanted to pull you into a never-ending kiss right there in front of everyone, wanted to throw all caution to the wind and finally let herself be yours.

Instead, she’d snapped at you with some vicious reply that she doesn’t even remember all too well, just that she called you a nuisance and the devastating look on your face at her response. She had to turn away from you, she couldn’t look into your eyes or else she knew she’d have caved. She would have held your face in her hands and given a million sincere apologies in hopes of erasing that look from your face.

Lin uses the last of her strength to turn her back on the bickering group of teens and falls back to sleep, except this time all she dreams about is finding you dead in some ditch.

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Lin spent her time on bed rest with you and her officers on her mind. She was deeply ashamed of her failure, she even had nightmares about if she did find you. In them you were either dead or close to it, in one you even declined her help to get medical attention and told her you’d rather die than live your life with her as a soulmate. That one had truly shattered her. There's a radio beside her bed, for the most part, it played nonsensical talk shows with mind-numbing segments, the only reason she had it on was that sometimes a police report was given.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this special report. Late last night equalists attacked city hall subduing councilman Tarlock and capturing avatar Korra details are still coming in but-” Lin turns it off and forces herself out of bed, pain erupts in her right arm and she has to stop for a second to hold it and let the pain subdue, it doesn’t completely disappear but it’s enough to get her out of bed.

She lets out a pained groan and heads over to the closet that has her clothes inside, her uniform stares at her mockingly, reminding her that she’s no longer chief of police but right now isn’t time for a pity party, so she gets out of her pajamas and into her usual white tank top and pants then metal bends the armor on. Lin looks down at her breastplate and stares at her pin that marks as such and rips it off, tossing it onto her nightstand. She has to find Korra, you’d want her to find Korra.

Lin leaves the hospital with a coat over her armor to not so subtly hide what she's wearing underneath and storms off to retrieve Asami from her cell. She metal bends the door off and soon the two are off, Asami is walking next to her, trying to keep up with the pace “we’re gonna find them, I know we will” Asami says, Lin sighs and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. She hope’s so.

She busts Bolin and Mako out next, reluctantly but she knows her best bet at finding everyone in time is with them by her side. Her next destination is Tenzin's office, once inside she finds him sitting at his desk on the telephone, he eyes them, a surprised look appearing on his face which causes Lin to roll her eyes. Did he expect her to pout until someone else fixed this mess?

“I… have to go,” he says to whoever is on the other end of the line. “Call me back the minute you hear anything-” he immediately ends the call, going to stand from his seat with his hands up in the air. “- Lin what... What are… what are you” he sputters out before his shoulders sag and he gives her an exasperated look. “You should be in the hospital! And you three-” he begins, pointing his fingers at the younger three of the group, “- should be in prison!”

“I figured you could use our help finding Korra” she replies, she wants to say find you, but she knows her best bet at finding you is through your sister, and if Lin found you first, you’d be enraged to find your little sister missing. They all theorize on how to start the search, Asami, Bolin, and Mako run off after Mako says he might know where to go. Lin looks up at Tenzin, letting out a deep sigh “wherever Amon is keeping Korra, I bet that's where y/n and my officers are too.”

Tenzin looks into Lin’s eyes and says with the utmost confidence “let's bring them all home Lin.” Everyone eventually boards Oogi and Mako directs Tenzin where to go. Besides his directions it's utterly quiet on the back of the sky bison, everyone is tense and buzzing with the hope that his hunch is correct. Eventually, they land in a city square and upon climbing down Mako immediately runs over to one of the streets “the truck that took Bolin went this way” he states, pointing at the winding road.

They walk down the street for at least two blocks before coming to an intersection, everyone slowly comes to a halt as Asami breaks the silence “which way?” Bolin strokes his chin as he steps closer to the street in front of them and replies “this way seems familiar.”

Lin, not wanting to go out on a hunch, especially one made by him, bends one of her shoes off and slams her foot down, she closes her eyes as she tries to see what's beneath the surface. A tunnel! It's to the left instead of straight and Lin bends her shoe back on, pointing left “there's a tunnel nearby!”

They break off into a sprint once more and come upon an unused storm drain that has a massive tunnel covered by a metal grate. Motorcycle tracks are leading into the tunnel, confirming their growing suspicions. “Korra has to be in there… somewhere,” Mako says as Lin bends the gate upwards with a bang.

They walk for at least fifteen minutes before they come to a grinding halt, in front of them are five separate tunnels splitting off into different directions. Mako is bending some fire in his hand to help illuminate their path. He doesn’t stop though, he points to a tunnel and tells them he thinks it's this way. With no other option, they all follow after him and continue their descent into the unknown. Soon they hear the revving of motorcycles behind them, Lin orders them all to hide and they all press themselves into a hidden nook. A secret door opens up for the cyclists and they speed inside without a single idea of what they’ve just done.

That pesky feeling of hope blooms in Lin’s chest once more, she runs over to the secret door that has since been shut and feels around before bending it open. It slams open and without a second to lose they race down this secret tunnel with abandon. There's a large room before them with equalists working inside, there are multiple vehicles inside and a tram system leading down three tunnels straight ahead.

One of the trams arrives and an equalist with a feminine voice walks up to the one holding a clipboard and says “everything was delivered to the prison, sir.” Both are fools, far too comfortable with the area because they walk away leaving the contraption unattended. “That’s where they must be keeping Korra” Tenzin whispers. And y/n, Lin thinks, she squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, forcing herself to focus and says “we need to get down that tunnel.”

She waves at them, signaling them to follow her as she sneaks towards the tram. Once onboard, Asami drives it for them, going as fast as she can while Tenzin and Lin stand upfront, on guard for anything that may be lurking in the shadows. Once they see a light ahead seeping into the otherwise dark tunnel Lin orders them off and everyone presses their backs against the wall as the tram continues speeding down to the landing.

“It’s empty,” one idiotic officer says, and another reply in a snarky tone “yeah, I can see that.” Before either can investigate further, Lin shoots out her metal wires and yanks them into the darkness with them. She knocks them out, perhaps a bit too harshly but she’s beyond caring and ties them up so they can’t run off to warn anyone else. Using her aseismic senses, she’s able to locate her men… but not y/n.

“What about Korra?” Mako questions, his tone borderline irritable. Lin keeps a calm composure and replies “I don’t see her yet.” Mako and Tenzin follow Lin as she leads the way through the prison, all of the cells they pass are empty, strange. When they turn a corner two guards are waiting, as they ready themselves for a fight, Tenzin uses his bending to knock them out against the walls. Too easy.

When Lin finally finds their cell, all of them are sitting on their bunks with their heads down. Lin bends the bars apart but none of them seem to care as they stare up at her. “Chief Beifong?” officer Song asks, his voice is weak and Lin immediately knows that she’s failed her men.

“I’m too late, aren’t I? That monster already took your bending, didn’t he?” Song nods, his face solemn and Lin clenches her fists, having to look away from him or else she might just crack. “I’m so sorry... Come on, let's get you out of here” Lin turns her back on them and hears them follow after her, that means yours is gone too, wherever you are.

When Lin rounds the corner, she finds Mako holding one of the guards against the wall, one of his fists alight with fire. “I scanned the entire prison, Korra and y/n aren’t here.”

“Why would Tarlock make up a story about getting attacked?” Mako drops the guy and the guard falls to the floor, there's liquid on the floor beneath him that wasn’t there before, that wimp pissed himself. “Because he has Korra” she replies, Lin pushes past Mako and squats down to be eye level with the shaking guard, she wraps her hand around his neck but doesn’t put any pressure on him, it’s a threat and his eyes widen in fear as he realizes it. “W-We don’t have the avatar! I… I swea-”

“Where is y/n, she most likely came in on the same truck as my officers” Lin demands. The color drains from his face at her question, he begins stuttering out some kind of incoherent reply about how he doesn’t know but she can tell he’s lying through his teeth. Lin applies pressure and asks again. “Where. Is. She?”

“Sh-she killed her guards, they took her to a special place!” the guard has spit falling out of the side of his mouth, tears racing down his cheeks, she loosens her hold just a bit. Did you kill someone? It must have been before they took your bending away. “Where?!”

“It’s done below, you have to take an eleva-”

“Show me” she growls out, she yanks him up to his feet and pushes him away from the wall, he stumbles a bit but Tenzin catches his forearm, she can tell he’s not too pleased with her but she doesn’t care. Mako leads Lin's men back to the tram while Tenzin stays with her, keeping his hold on the blubbering guard. He leads them back down where the officers were held but keeps moving forward. There’s a locked door made of solid platinum, the guard pulls a switch out of his pocket and flicks it, causing the door to harshly slide open with a bang. He keeps leading them, his shoulders shaking.

They go down a twisting staircase and stop at an elevator stationed at the halfway point. He opens the metal sliding doors up and the three climb inside. There are a million buttons on the panel in front of them, if Lin came alone she’d have no clue where to start, but thankfully this wimp knows exactly what button to press.

“Oh man, Amons gonna kill me” he sobs out, snot drips into his mouth as he throws his head into his hands. Tenzin gives Lin a look of discomfort, neither are good at comforting people, both can’t be around someone whos crying without becoming incredibly uncomfortable. Tenzin lets out a sigh when he realizes Lin won’t give in.

“We’ll take you with us, so he can’t,” he says softly, the guards head flies up to look at Tenzin, the air bender takes a step back as snot and spit going flying, Lin scrunches her nose up in disgust. “Really?” he whispers, Tenzin nods and before he can even stop it, the guard flings his arms around him and squeezes him tight. Lin feels a chuckle bubbling up her throat at the sight of Tenzin's horrified gaze, he mouths ‘help me’ but Lin just turns her head to look at the door. The elevator dings and the doors creak open to reveal a dark hallway ahead of them. The guard pulls away from Tenzin and pats his shoulder, offering him a smile full of gratitude.

He leads them down the hall before they stop at another door, also made of platinum. Once again he pulls out his controller full of switches and flicks one, making the door slam open. Its pitch black inside, Lin takes a hesitant step inside. The sound of something scraping against the floor echoed through the room and Lin steps out of the way just seconds before you appear, holding up a metal chair, you swing it where she once was.

“Y/n,” Lin says, she sees your arms shaking as you drop the chair, you fall to your knees from exerting to much energy, “Lin?” your voice is hoarse, and when you lift your head to glance up at her, something inside of her cracks. Your hair is matted with dry blood, the side of your face is caked in it and there are bags under your eyes, your skin is so pale and despite only being locked up for a week you look so weak, your cheeks are hollowed out.

Lin finally knocks herself out of her thoughts when she hears you whimper and she scrambles down onto her knees to cup your face, she inspects you for any open wounds, or signs of illness, you bring one of your hands up to loosely grip her wrist and Lin gasps at the sight of your bloodied fingers.

“She… uh she was scratching a lot when we first put her in here,” he says hesitantly. Lin’s head swings over to him, suddenly the promise Tenzin made seems impossible, she wants to kill him and anyone else involved in your suffering.

“Why?” Lin spits out before he can answer her you reply softly “it was so dark.” Lin pulls you into her arms, burrowing her head into the crook of your neck, you fall into her arms, letting go of any tension within you as you become pliant to her will.

Someone clears their throat and Lin lifts her head to see Tenzin staring at her in confusion. “We should hurry,” he says, Lin nods and goes to stand but you grip onto her shoulders, she looks down and sees you try to stand, but your legs shake and you almost fall back down. She catches you and picks you up bridal style, you rest your head on her shoulder and close your eyes when you come out into the light. You hiss due to the pain and burrow your face into the fabric of her coat.

Something warm lights up her heart at the action but she smothers it, now's not the time. On the way back to the others Tenzin continues to stare at Lin oddly as the guard continues to lead them out.

You're sure this is a dream, you screamed for anyone down below, begged the spirits for a savior, and sobbed for mercy. But you gave up hope after a few days inside, it seemed you’d been left to rot, every few days someone would stop by with a small bowl of what can only be described as kitchen scraps and a sip of water. They were prolonging what felt like the inevitable, you felt so close to death, with your bending gone you had become weakened and you didn’t have any water to help strengthen you.

Halfway back to the others an ear-splitting siren went off as the lights in the prison repeatedly flashed red. Everyone broke into a sprint and ran down the stairs that reunited them with the others.

“Let's go, people!” Bolin calls out as everyone boards the tram, once inside Asami speeds off, behind them a set of headlights flashes as another tram picks up speed, Lin sees Bolin bend the tunnel into collapsing right on top of the second tram and if not for the situation she might have given him a pat on the back. Lin gives you to Tenzin who carefully holds you close as she shouts out “We got more company, hang on!” she shouts as she bends a metal vent to act as a ramp for them. Due to the speed of the tram, it keeps its momentum, she then bends away from the earth in front of them to allow them to enter another tunnel above.

The tram screeches as it's off its tracks and now on the stone before abruptly coming to a halt, everyone groans, the impact has caused them to either fly from their seats or in poor Asami’s case, bang her head into the metal wall in front of her. Tenzin had used his air bending to keep both of you seated, adding enough pressure that when everyone went flying, you both just experienced a jolt.

Lin opens up a hole above, letting the sun shed light on the otherwise dim tunnel. Tenzin gets everyone out with his air bending, including the officer that Lin is most definitely arresting and sentencing to life if she can have anything to do with it. Once up above, Lin goes to take you from his arms but Tenzin pulls back and stares her down.

“What was that about down there?” he questions. In another world Tenzin would have been the one fretting over you, he’d taken you both in and sworn to your parents that he’d protect you. Whilst Korra was a bit rough and hard to handle, you’d play with his children, you kept Jinora company when she felt left out, and helped feed the sky bison whenever you could.

You’d already talked to Pema about how you’d help with the delivery of their next child you’d briefly trained at a healing school in the southern tribe before you decided to follow Korra here and had helped many women deliver healthy babies into the world. You were like a daughter to him, so Lin's unusual display of affection almost unnerved him.

Before Lin can come up with some kind of retort, you turn your head, your eyes squinted as you try to adjust to the light. “Lin?” you say, you reach out for her and without thinking of Tenzin she steps closer and grabs your hand. “I need to take her to the hospital Tenzin and you need to deal with Tarlock.”

Tenzin scowls before carefully handing you to Lin, almost immediately you clutch her coat and snuggle in as close as you can. His brows knit together as the pieces of the puzzle finally snap into place. “But…” he begins, Lin stops him before he can bombard her with questions. “I need to get her to a doctor as soon as possible.” She knows later down the line she’ll have to have a long talk with him, explaining herself and… this thing between the two of you. She rushes off in the direction of the hospital, it’s four blocks away which isn’t too far but she’s filled with fear that somehow you’ll die in her arms if she doesn’t hurry. Once inside the waiting room, Lin calls out for help and two nurses rush forward with a wheelchair once they see you in her arms.

They whisk you away, or try to, one of the nurses tries to convince Lin to stay behind but she won’t be separated from you, not until she knows you're completely safe. “She’s my soulmate and I’ll arrest anyone who tries to keep me away from her right now.” That shuts her up. Lin’s never pulled that kind of card before, and honestly, she wouldn’t arrest someone unless they’d done something illegal but you're getting farther away and her heart is beating faster. The nurse blanches and Lin takes that as her queue to run after you.

The same doctor who looked after Lin, which he repeatedly tries to convince her to go back to her room and rest, to which she declines, looks you over for any injuries. The back of your head is healing, very slowly though and it doesn’t look like it’s been properly cleaned so he has one of the nurses do that as he checks the rest of your body.

“Does it hurt anywhere besides your head and your hands?” he asks, to which you can’t offer a proper reply. Everywhere hurts, you're sore and weak and you feel like if you close your eyes you may never open them again. The doctor sighs, “we need some bone broth and -” he starts listing off medicines to the nurses who scurry off and he orders two others to clean your fingers which elicits a pained groan out of you.

Lin kneels and stays there the whole time, once the nurse arrives with a warm bowl of broth Lin takes it from her and helps you sip it. She nudges her arm underneath your neck to prop your head up and gently brings the bowl up to your lips before tilting it slowly to allow only a little at a time. You happily drink it but can only get about halfway before you claim your too full to continue.

She frowns but relents, not wanting to push you. Eventually, the nurses move you to a proper bed, one like Lin’s, after they clean you up and tuck you underneath the blankets. You’ve long since fallen asleep and the sun is beginning to set, casting a warm orange glow throughout the room. You already look a bit better, one of the nurses gave Lin a warm, wet cloth when asked so she could gently wipe your face clean of all the dried up blood. It’s been roughly two hours since Lin entered the hospital and she already wants out, but not without you. This is a public place and therefore means it's easier to attack, if she lets her guard down Amon may very well try to steal you away once more.

Tenzin and the others, sans Korra, enters the hospital room as Lin finishes wiping up the dirt above your brow and when she hears them, she immediately sets the cloth onto the table, embarrassment floods through her at being caught and she knows she shouldn’t care but she does.

“Tarlock is a blood bender,” Bolin says, raising his hands in the air “and he has Korra!” Mako jabs Bolin in the stomach as everyone shushes him, you stir, letting out a groan before stilling once more, thankfully he didn’t wake you, or Lin definitely would have knocked some sense into him.

“We should all go to air temple island, we’ll be safer together-” Lin goes to speak up, she won’t leave you behind “- y/n will too. I spoke with a nurse outside who says she doesn’t have any serious injuries, just malnourished and therefore very weak. Food and rest will help.” He clears his throat and looks Lin in the eyes “I’d like to speak outside for a moment.”

She stands up, knowing that she needs to get this talk over with. Asami takes Lin's seat beside you as she walks out of the room and down the hall just enough so that they are out of earshot. “She’s my soulmate” Lin starts, her hand once more grazes the burnt mark that now fills her with so much regret. Tenzin looks away before letting out a deep sigh.

“How?” he questions. She lied to him for so long, he’s seen her body bare and knows that she doesn’t have a mark, anymore. His eyes follow her hand and a look of shock takes over his features “It wasn’t a work-related accident, was it?” His jaw clenches as he stares her down. She burnt it right before they went out for the first time, he’d claimed he would find the man responsible for her scar but she’d always shrugged it off. It makes sense.

“No… I was ashamed” she grits her teeth as she remembers sobbing over the burn, telling herself to get over it and that it was for the better. That she’d be happy with Tenzin and wouldn’t need some infantile immature young adult in her life. But you aren’t immature, you're so strong and courageous, she’s seen how you care for those around you and honestly, she doesn’t get how your friends with Bolin and Mako since they are both downright annoying whilst you are anything but.

“And now?” he questions, she knows he probably has a million little judgments he wants to spew out, most likely scold her for something that she can’t control and she’s grateful for him reigning it and trying to remain calm. She doesn’t think she can handle anything else that requires even an ounce of effort after how today has gone.

“I tried to push her away, I told her it wouldn’t work but…” Lin tries to find her next words but there's a lump forming in her throat and she will not cry, not in public, and definitely not in front of Tenzin.

“But she was captured” he finishes for her and she sharply nods, staring at some water stain on the wall up above his right shoulder. “I want you to be happy Lin, even if this does seem strange to me, if you both make each other happy then I’ll get over my preconceived judgments and support you both.”

Lin simply nods, tears are threatening to fall from her eyes so she mutters a “thank you” and heads to the bathroom to compose herself. Tenzin understands, he heads back to your hospital room as Lin barges into the thankfully empty bathroom and begins to cry. You're fine, you're safe and relatively healthy and you will be fine. All she can hope is that once you’ve recovered you’ll forgive her, Lin never apologizes or admits she's wrong but for you, she’ll do so in an instant. She’ll get on her knees for you, beg you even. She’ll be humiliated but it will have been worth it if you give her another shot, one that she’ll make sure she doesn’t screw up.

Tenzin’s approval means so much to her, he probably doesn’t realize it either. She might never be close to him again after what happened but she still sees him as her family, if he’d have shamed her Lin wouldn’t have been able to go on, which she’ll never let him know.

Lin wipes the tears out of her eyes and waits until the redness and puffiness die down before leaving the bathroom and heading back into your room. You're sitting up and are listening to Tenzin with a tired smile on your face as he talks to you about who knows what. Your hair is still caked in dried up blood with bags under your eyes but still, you take Lins breath away.

Tenzin ushers everyone out of the room to give the two of you privacy, Bolin puts up a bit of a fight but relents when Lin fixes him with a glare that has him racing on out of the room before anyone else. Tenzin places his hand on Lin’s shoulder, giving it an encouraging squeeze before shutting the door behind him on the way out.

“Lin” you begin and in an instant, she’s rushing over to your side, she stops herself just as she’s about to take your hand, worried about your reaction. You slowly reach your hand up and interlock your fingers, there’s this look on your face like you're waiting for Lin to pull away in disgust. Instead, Lin gives your hand a gentle squeeze and slowly sits on the stool beside her bed like before.

“I’m sorry,” she says earnestly before you can say whatever was on the tip of your tongue. Your eyes widen but you don’t respond, you're waiting for her to continue, to elaborate so you don’t end up getting hurt again.

“I..” Lin gulps, “I thought I’d be a burden to you, I’m old, practically married to my job, I definitely won’t be winning any awards for my personality-” you crack a smile at that, it warms her heart “-and I don’t want kids. I thought maybe you’d want someone like Bolin or Mako because they could give you those kinds of things I can’t, I like to be in bed by nine and I’ve never even set foot in a dance club before. I’m… I’m not young like you.”

“Are you done?” you ask, Lin furrows her brows but otherwise nods, your other hand, the one not holding Lin's hand comes up to rest on her scarred cheek. “Did you ever think that maybe I want everything you can give me? No matter how much or how little it may be. I don’t want kids, sure they're nice but they are messy and time-consuming, it’s a job for life with no weekends.” Lin laughs at that, spirits, she doesn’t know if she believes you, it seems too good to be true.

“I can’t take someone else leaving me” she states, a pained look settling on her features. Your eyes soften and you pull Lin closer to you, she’s leaning against the bed now, your noses almost touching. You rub your thumb soothingly across her cheek, you're trying to find the right words to say. You can’t mess this up.

“I can’t promise I’ll never get mad at you or I'll never irritate you. We’ll probably have a string of fights throughout our years together but… I’ll never leave you, Lin, you’re all I want out of this life.” Lin’s eyes widen as unshed tears brim at the corners of her eyes. She’s never been told something so heartfelt, so romantic before.

She leans up further until your lips are inches apart and waits for a breath, waits to see if you’ll pull away, and claim that this is all a joke. But instead, you close the gap and let go of her hand just so you can cup both sides of her face. Your lips are so soft and delicate as you pull her closer until your chest to chest like back on the tram. Lin deepens the kiss, her hands resting on your waist, she’s too scared of gripping you in fear of hurting you in your fragile state. You lick the bottom of her lip and she opens her mouth all too eagerly, her knee is now resting on the edge of the bed so she can wrap her arms around you, pulling you flush against her.

Too soon you pull away from her, panting against her mouth and when Lin opens her eyes she has to fight the urge to pull you back into another passionate kiss. Your pupils are blown, cheeks flushed a deep red with swollen lips. She tries to capture it within her mind for safekeeping

“I think I love you” you whisper, your voice is hoarse and you thread your fingers through her hair, lightly gripping it. Lin has to keep herself from moaning at said action. That cynical side of her brain shouts within her skull that you're lying but Lin ignores it, she pecks you on the lips which you eagerly try to deepen but she pulls away just a few inches so she can talk.

“I think I love you too,” Lin whispers, too scared of breaking this moment that almost feels sacred. A smile spreads across your lips as you pull her into a kiss once more. Lin happily kisses you, her heart blooms with a million budding roses, all for you as she finally lets go of all her fears, all her insecurities, and enjoys the feel of you against her. Finally, she thinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is the end of oh my heart. I've never written a kissing scene before so I would love some feedback, maybe some constructive criticism. I hope you liked this story as much as I loved writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm trying to get back into writing and I just recently discovered ATLA and LOK. Unsurprisingly I have become a Lin simp but there is hardly any x reader fics of her so here is my contribution to all of us guys, gals and nonbinary pals who seem to have mommy issues.


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